Dorset - Time Flies By When Immersed in Nature!

It has been a month since I last posted. I’m not sure where the time has gone but I have been out on the Farm and looking in the local area for summer visitors. I had a couple of Women’s Cup finals to officiate up until mid May which kept me in the gym for part! I have also bought a moth trap and have been up at the crack of dawn processing and releasing the overnight catch. I will add a dedicated moth post in due course!

The weather seems a bit more settled with warmer sunny days lifting my spirits! At the end of 2023 I set up Dorset Bird Tours offering guided bird tours in the Weymouth and Portland. This coincided with Bob Ford passing over the guiding mantle for The Heights Hotel, Isle of Portland to me. The hotel has since booked my services for 2025 and invited me to join them at Birdfair 2025!

I have also been out looking for heathland and summer visitors in the local area paying more attention to general wildlife that is resident at each location. 

Morden Bog NNR, Affpuddle Forest, Oakers Wood, Wild Woodbury and Several Cress Beds are all within twenty minutes of my home and easily accessible via the lanes from the village.

Juvenile birds are now a regular feature on my feeders. I leave windows covered to prevent this new wave of unfamiliar guests falling fowl to my narrow flyway at the back of the house! House Sparrow, Blackbird, Goldfinch, Dunnock, Robin and Collared Dove with House Martins breeding nearby! I added Raven to my garden list a few days ago proving that even in perceived downtime there is something interesting to see locally!

Half-term week was busy around Weymouth but I got around with the minimal of disruption to regular travelling times between sites. The Bearded Reedling at Radipole are proving to be very hit and miss this year with predicted numbers being down of previous years! I missed the exhausted Honey Buzzard that was found at Ferrybridge by Freddy yesterday but he has been relentless along the fleet and has found some excellent birds this year including Golden Oriole and Stone Curlew!

Portland has been relatively quiet of late but irregular sightings of Puffin have fueled anticipation that a pair may be back in the area! The above were found during a Heights Hotel tour with RSPB Watford!

(Morden Bog id assistance required please?)

The birding doldrums are here but having read this post back there is a lot going on! Long may it continue!